Conventional methods of manufacturing dentures involve many steps, are costly and time consuming. Normally, the dentist begins by taking an impression of the patient's upper and lower arches. A plaster model is prepared from the impression and an inverse impression of the plaster model is made. A wax plate, which contains indentations for teeth and gums, is then formed around the palate and gums of the original plaster model. This wax plate is removed from the model and artificial teeth are positioned in the indentations in the wax and the plate is placed on top of the inverse impression. The wax plate and impression are placed as a unit in the boiler and the wax is boiled off, leaving the artificial teeth in the inverse impression. Acrylic is then applied to the teeth while still in the inverse impression and the gum and other areas are built up with slow setting acrylics to form a denture plate. The inverse impression containing artificial teeth in acrylic is then placed in a cooker for at least six hours to harden. The plates are then removed from the inverse mold, buffed and ground to remove the excess acrylic and smooth the plate. Additional adjustments, such as further buildup of the acrylic, or grinding, are commonly required.
The foregoing process is extremely time consuming and so complex that it frequently requires several trips to the dentist to obtain dentures which fit. Accordingly, there is a need for a more accurate, efficient and economical method of preparing dentures which do not have the disadvantages of conventional prior art processes.